Electrification | Heat pump without any effort

Installing a heat pump is too expensive for many households and the planning is too complicated. Photo: dpa/Julian Stratenschulte A new eco-heating system for 30,000 or 35,000 euros? For many homeowners, this is an investment that is almost impossible to afford, even though the state offers a subsidy. It will be particularly difficult for people with low incomes who own their own home but have little savings. They often still heat with gas or oil, although a heat pump would be cheaper in the long run. A new study now shows how this problem could be solved: with an all-round, worry-free package based on the French model, which makes replacing the heating system easier and at the same time keeps the monthly costs low, if possible even lowering them below the previous level.

The Öko-Institut developed a concept for this on behalf of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. Under the title “Bonjour Heat Pump”, the experts suggest that municipal utilities, energy service providers or specialized companies organize the entire changeover - from advice to state support and financing through to installation, maintenance and electricity supply. Homeowners would no longer have to fight their way through the funding jungle themselves, coordinate various tradesmen or organize a bank loan. You would have a single point of contact and would later pay manageable monthly installments.

“The French model comes at exactly the right time,” says Uwe Witt, climate protection expert at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. A takeover for Germany would close the gaps that have previously prevented homeowners with little income from being able to replace their heating systems in a climate-friendly manner.

The debate about the energy transition in boiler rooms has been heated for years. After the start of the war in Ukraine, traffic light economics minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wanted to accelerate the departure from oil and gas heating by amending the building energy law at the time. New heating systems should generally be powered by at least 65 percent renewable energy, although there are transition periods and exceptions.

With its Building Modernization Act passed in July of this year, the Merz government has generally allowed new oil and gas heating systems to be used again, although in the future they will use gradually increasing proportions of renewable fuels. This so-called organic staircase as well as the planned green gas and green heating oil quotas can increase heating costs. Added to this are CO2 pricing and the prospect of rising gas network fees as fewer and fewer households are connected to the gas network.

This means that financially weaker owners in particular are threatened with a cost trap. Anyone who has a gas heater installed again out of uncertainty could find themselves tied to a technology that is becoming increasingly more expensive to operate for many years. The new study is not based on additional bans, but on an attractive offer.

The existing funding provides the basis for this. Since 2024 there has been an income bonus when replacing heating systems, which was further developed in summer 2026. Self-occupying owners with a taxable annual income of up to 30,000 euros can receive reimbursement of up to 80 percent of the eligible costs together with other subsidies. With a maximum of 28,000 euros of eligible expenses, that's up to 22,400 euros. Graduated surcharges apply for higher incomes.

»Heat pumps pay off and are technically sophisticated.«

But even this support doesn't help everyone. The subsidy is generally only paid out after the work has been completed. Anyone who has no reserves not only has to finance their own contribution, but often also the funding. The KfW supplementary loan provided for this purpose is difficult to access in practice. Many banks do not arrange it or refuse small loan amounts. Older people and people with low incomes in particular also fail the credit check.

Figures from the Oeko-Institut show how large the affected group is: around 1.6 million households in their own single-family homes have a monthly net income of less than 2,000 euros, while another 2.4 million have between 2,000 and 2,900 euros. Almost half of this group are pensioners.

France is already one step further in finding a solution. The government there launched a program for integrated heat pump offers last May. At the end of September, seven provider consortia were selected, including mergers with the energy companies EDF and Engie. They should initially install 55,000 additional heat pumps. The first systems should be installed this month. The special thing is that the providers take over the financing and guarantee a certain efficiency of the systems. And the electricity price should remain predictable for at least three years.

The new study proposes a funding competition for Germany. Companies should make offers about how many low-income households they can serve and under what conditions. The contract would be awarded to whoever offers the required services with the least additional state funding. The state would not have to organize heating itself, but would have to set quality standards and financial incentives.

A model calculation shows that this could work. For an older single-family home with 20,000 kilowatt hours of gas consumption, the monthly heating costs are 200 euros at twelve cents per kilowatt hour. A heat pump for 35,000 euros still costs 12,600 euros after maximum funding. Spread over 15 years, that would be 70 euros per month. In addition, there would be 140 euros for electricity and 40 euros for maintenance. So a total of 250 euros. This is initially more than the previous gas bill. However, a new gas boiler would also have to be financed. Assuming an acquisition cost of 15,000 euros, this would be an additional around 80 euros per month over 15 years. The heat pump would therefore already be cheaper in terms of full cost calculation.

Additional funding could ensure that households even pay less from the first month onwards. However, how high it would have to be depends on the respective buildings, energy prices and financing conditions. The study does not yet provide a nationwide cost estimate. The contracts would also have to prevent customers from being tied to expensive electricity tariffs in the long term. The additional support could be financed, among other things, from the EU's Climate Social Fund.

“Heat pumps pay off and are technically sophisticated,” says study author Malte Bei der Wieden from the Oeko-Institut. Now it's about offering low-income households a cheap and uncomplicated offer and relieving them of the organizational effort.

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